Clasp for rubber aprons



July 15, 19124.

E. W. RUTHERFORD CLASP FOR RUBBER APRONS Filed Jam 25. 1924 avwewboz5/054/5 (RUTHERFORD EUGENE W. RUTHERFORD, 0F NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT,ASSIGNOR TO THE SHOE.

HARDWARE COMPANY, OF WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF CON-NECTIGUT.

CLASP FOR RUBBER APRONS.

Application filed January 25,1924. Serial No. 688,372.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, EUGENE W. RUTHER- ronn, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of New Haven, county of New Haven, and State ofConnecticut, have invented a certain new and useful Clasp for RubberAprons, of which the following is a full,

clear and exact description.

This inventon relates to clasps for rubber aprons and its object is toprovide a clasp of a simple and inexpensive but attractive constructionthat will hold together the straps of the apron at their place of crossmTleferring to the'drawings forming a part of this specification, V

Fig. 1 is an apron viewed from the back showing the clasp applied.

Fig. 2 is a view of the clasp, actu'al size, in perspective, and

' Fig. 3 is a development of the clasp showing the blank from which itis formed.

The invention resides in the novel construction of the slide which isproduced by so stamping a blank from sheet materialand folding it thatan integral structure will be produced consisting of a pair of slots forthe retention of the straps of the apron at their place of crossing.

In the preferred embodiment the folded blank forms the entire slide andis shown in the drawings in Figure 3 and designated generally by thenumeral 1. The blank is cut from its periphery inwardly at four placesand in the present form these cuts are produced by cutting out fourV-shaped portions 2, 3, 4 and 5, thereby providing a central body member6 and four extending members arranged in oppositely disposed pairs 7-7and 8'-8 integral with the body member and extending from its foursides. A pair of these members as for instance the pair 7--7 is foldedover opposite to one face of the body member 6 to form an open slottherewith for the retention of the strap a of the apron A. The otherpair 88 of the four members is similarly folded over opposite the otherface of the central member to form an open slot therewith for theretention of the strap" Z) of the apron, all as shown in Figure 2. I

The sides of the central member 6 are disposed at angles similar to theangles at which the straps cross, and as these sides form the definingedges for the slots, the

slots will be disposed at the same angle as the straps, therebymaintaining the straps in a substantial straight line as shown in Fig.l. The V shaped openings 2, 3, 4 and 5 are so cut that their sides willbe at suitable The central body member and extending members may beperforated in any desired manner to lend to the attractiveness of theclasp and to reduce its weight. In the pres ent instance theffourextensions are perforated forming the large openings 9 havingtheir inneredges 10 coinciding #with the edges of the central member 6. Thisreduces the extensions to mere U-shaped bars integrally connected to thecentral member 6, which besides giving a very pleasing appearance to theclasp permits an easier bending of the members over the edges 10 of thecentral member 6 to form the slots for the straps. This forms a verystrong structure which enables theclasp to be made of very lightmaterial such as aluminum, celluloid, or the like, or on account of itsskeleton formation it may be made even with heavy materials such as thinsheet steel without being objectionably heavy.

The folded extensions have their opposite edges 1l11 slightly spacedapart to form an opening 12. This is desirable for the and being of onepiece the angle between the two slots is fixed or determined when theblank is stamped and folded. The slots therefore require no angularadjustment and will necessarily remain at the exact angles produced bythe stamping and folding operations which are the angles similar tothose assumed by the shoulder straps. Moreover being a one-pieceintegral structure there is no possibility of the parts getting out ofplace or becoming detached. As before remarked the sides of the centralmember and in fact the sides of the clasp itself are relatively disposedat angles similar to the angles assumed by the straps and therefore theclasp has the further advantage of being of a diamond-shaped formationequal in area to the area of the straps at the lace of crossing.

I- aving thus described my invention what I claim and desire to protectby Letters Patent is:

1. A clasp for holding the shoulder straps of an apron at their place ofcrossing, comprising a single piece to provide a central body member,and four members extending from and formed integral respectively withthe four sides of the body member, two of the members being oppositelydisposed to each other and folded over opposite one face of the centralmember to form anopen slot therewith for the retention of one of thestraps, and the other two of the four 1 members being oppositelydisposed to each other and folded over opposite to the other face of thecentral member to form an open slot therewith for the retention of theother strap.

2. A clasp for holding the shoulder straps of an apron at their place ofcrossing, comprislng a single piece to provide a central diamond-shapedbody member having its sides disposed at angles similar to the angles ofthe crossing straps and of an area equal to the area of the straps'atthe place of crossing, and four members extending from and formedintegral respectively with the four sides of the body member, two of thefour members oppositely disposed to each other being folded overopposite one face of the central member to form an open slot therewithfor the retention of one of the straps, and the other two of the fourmembers being folded over opposite to the other face of the centralmember to form an open slot therewith for the retention of the otherstrap, the folded members on each side of the body member having their.adjacent edges spaced to permit the assembling of the clasp; with thestraps.

Signed at Waterbury, in the county of New Haven, and State ofConnecticut, this 21st day of January, 1924:.

EUGENE W. RUTHERFORD.

